17-year-old Orjioke turning heads

LOS ANGELES—Kenny Orjioke is well aware of what, on paper, makes him stand out among his teammates. The Bruins sophomore outside linebacker is still just 17 years old – the youngest player UCLA has on its roster – having graduated early from Lassiter High in Georgia.

But thanks to an impressive second half of the spring that turned plenty of coaches’ heads, Orjioke has started to stand out on the field as well. And with the Bruins’ spring practice coming to a close on Saturday, the teenage sensation looks to be one of many candidates vying for UCLA’s left outside linebacker spot this fall.

“In the last couple weeks, Kenny Orjioke has just jumped,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said of his freakishly athletic young linebacker. “I don’t know if you guys know this, but he’s still 17 years old, he’s still maturing. But you’re starting to see it. All of a sudden, he looks like he can be an outside linebacker and play and help you win at this level. We’re hoping he keeps developing.”

At 6-4, 237 pounds, Orjioke looks as developed as any teenage college football player could possibly be. UCLA even considered moving him to defensive end earlier this spring to take advantage of his raw strength and athleticism – a move that Orjioke didn’t exactly endorse.

His performance in last two weeks should keep him locked in at the linebacker spot though, and now, he says, he needs to worry about the learning the technical details of the linebacker position – a spot that’s still relatively new to him. In high school, Orjioke played football for just one season. And he played safety.

But Orjioke added 20 pounds since last season and is now one of the Bruins’ most physically imposing linebackers. There’s still room to adjust to the college game though – a process that he hopes can be sped up by adding even more strength.

“I came in here and I was pretty heavy, but I wasn’t functionally strong,” Orjioke said. “In high school, I was a lot bigger than a lot of kids, a lot faster than a lot of kids. I could just run into a kid and he’d go down. It’s a lot different here in college. People are lot stronger in their cores, so I worked on my core strength, got my weight up 20 pounds, and all that is helping translate.”

And come fall, it could very well translate into a surprise starting job for UCLA’s youngest player.

“The competition at that left outside linebacker spot is going to be fierce in the fall because there’s a couple kids coming in in this class that are special players, and between Aaron Wallace and Kenny Orjioke and Myles Jack and Deon Hollins, and you throw Anthony Barr in there – that’s a great group of linebackers,” Mora said.

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